It is recommended that you show work in progress each week. Aim to have everything animated by Week 11 so you can spend the following week on revisions and polish. Playbasts are fine. No rendering required.

Videos:
Quicktimes, 560 pixels by 316 pixels, H.264 codec, max 10MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Handbrake, Adobe Media Encoder, Quicktime Pro and more to format your videos. I use the 11-second club guidelines for all submissions:http://www.11secondclub.com/helpful_hints/encoding

Here's some Olaf dance animation from the Frozen game by Chase Shields at Binary Digital. Happy animating!

You have the rest of class to complete your slides and then head into your 2nd-last assignment.

This next piece is about what happens to your character after he jumps over, and then slides under obstacles on his way back to the run cycle. You will have another assignment in between this one and the regular run cycle for your character to regain his footing. This is all about the 'stagger' where he's off balance and trying to get his COG over his base of support. Maybe the floor is slippery or it takes him a few steps to get balanced. You have a lot of leeway with this assignment.

Here's a very brief example from Ratatouille as Remy runs away from Chef Skinner, Skinner slides to turn the corner and change his direction 90 degrees. He takes a couple of staggering steps, even placing his hand briefly on the ground to recover his balance and continue forward.

Assignment 4: Stagger

DUE DATE: WEEK 12 (in-class) – 20 Marks
*ZERO marks for late submissions
Using an existing rig create a stagger animation for a bi-ped. The character should stagger or stumble forward. The feel should be consistent with the personality and emotion of the previous animation. Secondary animations a broad range of movements and timing are encouraged to add life to the character.

Please compress all images and videos to keep them small using the following guidelines:

Videos:
Quicktimes, 560 pixels by 316 pixels, H.264 codec, max 10MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Handbrake, Adobe Media Encoder, Quicktime Pro and more to format your videos. I use the 11-second club guidelines for all submissions:http://www.11secondclub.com/helpful_hints/encoding

Images:
JPGs between 500-1200 pixels along longest edge, 72-300 dpi/ppi, max 5MB. You can use a variety of tools such as Photoshop, Gimp, and online programs to compress files.

By now your thumbnail studies should be done and your rough animation should be ready to start.The final artwork is due next week in class!

Your jump must fit into the style of your piece just as do these brilliant pixel art frames from local studio Spooky Squid Games' "They Bleed Pixels":

The art style really fits the action of this game - here's a sample:

Think about the physics of jumping - the power comes from a weight shift in the centre of gravity and the extension of the legs. Anyone who wants to challenge the idea that legs must straighten before they contract in a landing is welcome to demonstrate that for us all :D

The 12 Principles of animation are probably familiar by now but we'll quickly review one for the jump. As Disney giant Bill Tytla said,

"There are only three things in animation

ANTICIPATION, ACTION, and REACTION

and these imply the rest.

Learn to do these things well

and you can animate well."

There's a ton of great information on jumps in Richard Williams' The Animator's Survival Kit from 212-216 and on anticipation from 273-284. Buy this book! It takes several readings to get it to sink in.